


Mr Max

by respoftw



Series: Tumblr Prompts - Hawksilver edition [46]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, Getting Together, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-08 23:22:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4324773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Single Dad Clint and First-Grade Teacher Pietro</p>
<p>All the fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mr Max

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous said:  
> A preschool teacher pietro and a single dad clint would be super cool. Maybe a little cocky but seriously nice and helpful and great with kids pietro and some I'm doing my best but kids don't come with directions clint?

Clint knows that he is wholly unqualified to be the guardian of a six-year-old girl, especially one as smart and full of potential as Kate, but at the end of the day he's pretty sure that he's doing an OK job.

 

Kate is happy, healthy (pizza _is_ a vegetable, right?) and well-adjusted. Much more well-adjusted than her Uncle Clint to be honest, and if sometimes her socks don't match or he forgets to pack her gym shorts, it's not the end of the world.

 

Until someone else draws attention to his short-comings as a parental figure and then he's ready to go to war.

 

His fiercest battle begins on a Tuesday. Clint's leaning against the hated 'mom-mobile' he traded his beloved Roscoe in for as he waits outside the school gates, Lucky on a leash beside him to stop the stupid dog from running off to chase butterflies. He's wishing that he'd brought Natasha along to fend off the lascivious stares of the circling single Moms but the last time he'd asked, she'd laughed, called him pathetic and then proceeded to teach Kate how to kick someone in the kneecap just right so that you'd cripple them. _Good times._

 

The sound of the school bell signalling the release of hoards of elementary kids into freedom is probably more of a relief to him than it was to them at this point. He spots Kate bouncing towards him and is overwhelmed by the heady feeling of fear-protectiveness-love that still threatens to swallow him whole every time he sees her flowing black hair streaming in the wind as she barrels towards him. Although, now that he looks more closely, he can see that the usually tangled and loose black hair has been tamed into a perfectly neat French braid, something that Kate infuriatingly refers to as 'princess hair'. Clint knows that he hadn't done that this morning. There had been exactly one foray into the world of princess hair and it had ended with tantrums and tears (Kate had been disappointed too). Who the hell has been touching his kid's hair? And how the hell had they managed to get it so perfect?

 

Oblivious to Clint's quietly brewing inferiority complex, Kate dances around him, showing off her hair from all angles. “Isn't it cool, Clint? We were talking about princes and princesses today and Mr Max asked what we knew about them and I said that all the princesses had really pretty princess hair and Mr Max said that I had really pretty princess hair but I told him that I didn't because everyone knows that princesses have their hair in pretty princess plaits and then he showed the class what I meant by braiding my hair! Isn't that cool?!”

 

Clint does his best to nod along enthusiastically as he herds her and Lucky into the car, belting her into the booster seat but all he can think of is that name, the name that haunts him every week day, and most of the weekends.

 

_Mr Max._

 

Mr Maximoff (Mr Max for short, and don't even get Clint started on how cutesy and vomit-inducing that sounds) is Kate's first-grade teacher and if Clint had a dollar for every time he heard that godforsaken name, well, he would have enough money to not have to worry about paying for emergency healthcare every time Natasha kidnaps her for girl-bonding time. Mr Max is all Kate can talk about for at least an hour after he picks her up from school.

 

_Mr Max taught us about rainbows today, I bet you don't know about rainbows Clint, you said that there were pots of gold at the bottom of each one but Mr Max said that's not true and that they're really just refracted light._

 

_Mr Max runs really fast. Really fast. I bet he could run faster than you, Clint. He could probably shoot arrows better than you too because Mr Max is the bestest, most perfect person in the whole world and I wish he were my guardian instead of you._

 

Well, OK, she maybe hadn't said that last part but honestly, Clint was sick and tired of feeling like he was competing with Mr Max. Who was probably a cardigan-wearing, balding, middle-aged man with no personal life and a creepy obsession with glitter. Probably. Clint had never met him, the one parent-teacher night that Kate's school had held this year had fallen on the same night that Coulson had needed him in New Mexico to provide security for some hammer that fell from the sky.

 

Clint was used to being pointlessly jealous of Mr Max so this really should have been just another checkmark in the ledger of how Mr Max was so much cooler than him and then Clint would fish out all the marshmallows from a box of Lucky Charms so Kate could have a bowl of nothing but the best bits in an effort to redeem himself. That's how it would have gone had Clint not found _the note_.

 

Kate was happily slurping on her bowl of marshmallows (under the strict instruction not to tell Natasha) while Clint set about his usual nightly task of emptying her backpack of anything important.

 

A rock shaped like a love heart, a moth with one wing (should he be worried about that?), a half-eaten tuna sandwich and underneath it all, a sealed envelope addressed to Mr Clinton Barton.

 

_Dear Mr Barton,_

 

_I hope you don't mind that I used Kate as a model for 'princess hair' today but she was just so enthusiastic about it and seemed really sad that you hadn't been able to do it for her. I understand how hard it is for single fathers and you are doing an amazing job with Kate in every other respect._

 

_Can I suggest you check out the Daddy-Dos you tube channel? It's got some great tips and hints for those of us not used to styling hair. I hope it helps._

 

_Yours sincerely,_

 

_P. Maximoff (Mr Max)_

 

_PS – I know that you missed the last parent-teacher conference so I was wondering if you would be interested in attending a make-up session that I'm holding for those parents and guardians that didn't attend. It's this Thursday at 6pm at the school._

 

Clint is seething with anger. Who the hell does this Mr Max think he is? ' _You are doing an amazing job in every other respect_ '. Was this guys seriously equating Clint's ability to braid hair with the more important tasks like keeping Kate with a roof over her head and food on the table? ' _I understand how hard it is for single fathers'_. Oh, did he? Pfft, Clint bets that the old fart is one of those career teachers who feels like they didn't need children of their own because they ' _already have a thousand._ ' Well, Clint would like to see how Mr Max would fare looking after a kid for longer than 6 hours a day, part of the year. And, ' _a make-up session for those that didn't attend_ '? Didn't attend? Like Clint had made the conscious decision to just not go, like he hadn't cursed at Phil and felt like the biggest ass in the world for missing it?

 

Hell, no.

 

Hell, no to all of it. Thurdsay, 6pm. Mr Max wouldn't know what hit him.

 

*

Natasha barely managed to talk him out of wearing his bow and quiver to the parent-teacher conference but Clint still thinks he looks pretty intimidating in his form fitting black t-shirt, black jeans and leather motorcycle jacket. It might be petty but he wants to put this cardigan-wearing buffoon on edge. He's even made sure to be early just so he can make Mr Max feel guilty.

 

There's not much to do as he waits and Clint finds himself smiling fondly at the art on the walls. He can immediately spot Kate's contribution, he might be a little biased but it's a million times better than the rest of the trash on the walls. That lump of purple is almost definitely supposed to be him...or maybe a parrot?

 

The door bursts open at 6:03pm, a string of accented apologies interrupting Clint from his contemplation of first-grade art. Feeling triumphant that the perfect Mr Max was late, Clint turns to get his first glimpse of his new nemesis and damn near swallows his tongue.

 

_This is Mr Max? This drop dead gorgeous, well-muscled, sparkling-eyed, scruffy-faced kid is Mr Max? Crap._

 

The teacher seems to be having his own lust-fuelled epiphany as his eyes roam over Clint's well-chosen outfit. Not the reaction he was initially hoping for, but having seen Mr Max, he'll definitely take it.

 

“You are Kate's guardian?” Mr Max sounds as shocked as Clint feels.

 

“Yeah..and you're Kate's teacher?”

 

Mr Max seems to scold himself as he shakes his head and holds out his hand. “Yes. Pietro Maximoff. You can call me Pietro.”

 

Pietro's hand is warm and strong in his. “Clint.”

 

“Well...Clint. I'm sorry that I was late. The sitter got stuck in traffic so I was a little late leaving home, but you know how it is, right? Us single parents have to stick together.”

 

Clint's hopes had started to sink as Pietro spoke about sitters but he's smiling and back in the game by the end of the speech. “You have kids?”

 

“Yeah. A daughter, Luna. She's five, starting school next year. Where does the time go, right?”

 

“So..is she the reason you're so good at princess hair?”

 

Pietro laughs, arm coming up to scratch at his neck nervously (and Clint is not looking at how the stretch has pulled his shirt up, exposing a sliver of pale hips. Nope.) “Yeah. I was hopeless at first, I had to call my twin sister round to the house every day to do Luna's hair and she eventually just refused and sent me a link to that you-tube channel. I hope I didn't overstep any bounds with Kate? She's a terrific kid.”

 

Clint is quick to reassure him. “No! It was..it was appreciated. I'm new to this, I'm still learning and it's not like kids come with a manual.” He knows that Natasha would be laughing her ass off if she could hear how quickly Clint has changed his tune at the sight of a pretty face but...Pietro, Mr Max, _is_ kind of the bestest, most perfect person in the whole world. His kid has pretty good taste.

 

“Well, great. That's a relief. Um, we should probably get started with the, the parent-teacher thing.”

 

It turns out that Clint is doing a pretty awesome job. Pietro sings Kate's praises and for the first time since the judge signed the paperwork, he really feels like he can do this.

 

“So...Pietro. I know that this might be a bit forward of me but...maybe we could get Luna and Kate together for a play-date? They're pretty close to the same age, it could be good.”

 

Pietro smiles softly. “Sure. That sounds good.”

 

It's not the question that Clint wanted to ask and he can tell that it's not the question Pietro was hoping to hear but...they're single parents, their kids come first. Clint is going to hope that Luna and Kate get on and...take it from there, a plan that he knows Pietro will understand.

 

Kate and Luna love each other and proclaim themselves BFFs after the first play-date. It takes Clint and Pietro a bit longer but the girls are calling each other sisters by the time Kate starts third-grade.

 

Clint never does get the hang of princess hair, though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
